2020 Château Branaire-Ducru

Community Tasting Notes (26) Avg Score: 93 points

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  4/3/2024 - Everything Ahead wrote: 93 Points

  Beautiful nose on this of dark fruits, charcoal, lead pencil, minerals and hints of incense and some high-toned floral notes as well. This was decanted several hours and followed over 2 nights, and really sang after just an hour or two of air time. This bottle was better than the previous and with 10+ years of aging I can definitely see this going up a couple of points. Everything in balance (if a little oaky at the moment, but that will be absorbed into the fruit in time). Medium-to full bodied. Classy wine. One to stock up on and age a while. Rating: 93+

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  3/27/2024 - Chupeaka Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Still really young. Will really improve with age.
  
  On the nose, lots of blackberry, blackcurrant, and plums. Some violets, graphite, and licorice. Quite tight and austere still but there is plenty of fruit and spice, a slight truffle-like note on the finnish. Creamy oak is present and will be integrated with age. Fresh and complex. Balanced and elegant, no drying tannins despite the youthful austerity of this wine.
  
  Would be fun to do a side by side with Lagrange. Lagrange is more serious, unctuous, spice driven. Branaire is ethereal, airy, with an emphasis on fruit yet still has substance.

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  3/11/2024 - realstevebeam Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Decanted two hours. Consumed over three days.
  Plum. Stewed Blueberry. Graphite. No. 2 Pencil. Warm metal fence. Dark Chocolate. Red Cherry. It's textbook and it's lovely. Obviously young, but I was curious. Feels like it's dialed to age quite nicely. Much better on days two and three. Glad to have more; Won't touch the rest for a while.

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  2/10/2024 - CondorKhan wrote: 91 Points

  Infanticide for science.
  
  Blueberry and plums on the nose, slightly hot. On the palate, blueberry, blackberry, pencil lead. Medium body. Not what I'd consider super oaky. The notes are there but I feel like I have to dig deep to get at them, even on day 2. It's certainly has a great future but I think it's very tight and young right now. I'm sure my score will improve in 10 years.

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  2/5/2024 - Everything Ahead wrote: 92 Points

  Very tannic and closed on day one, but on day two blossomed with a plethora of dark fruits (blueberry/blackberry), toasted new oak notes, and that lead pencil note I love in BDX. This will be a really nice wine in 10-20 years, when I think it will go up by several points. If drinking now, do a long decant, but really this is one best left forgotten for 10+ years (I cracked one open to assess the vintage.) I find the 2019 Branaire a notch better than the 2020 in terms of midpalate density, but they are close in quality. A producer and vintage to seek out if you can get it for under $50.

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